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Arrow Thoughts & Open Thread: Deathstroke

I’ve been pretty open about not being particularly into the last few episodes of Arrow, so I’m pleased that last night’s episode focused more on things I care about – Oliver’s personal and professional angst. Awesome fights. Queen Consolidated. The mayoral race. Oliver in business suits.

The ongoing struggle between Oliver and Roy about what to do with Thea is interrupted by Thea herself being kidnapped by Slade – which we knew – who is working with Isobel, which we did not know. I was wondering if or when she’d be coming back, so this was delightful – especially since we got to see a Summer Glau/Stephen Amell fight. Isobel uses Oliver’s distraction during Thea’s kidnapping to get him to hand over the company to her “temporarily” – but of course takes it permanently – and I like that her aim was (at least partially) getting the Queen labs to replicate serum, rather than just being evil.

There’s a political side too – Thea’s ransom video interrupts the mayoral debate, and I loved the mention of the sympathy bump the incident gave Moira in the polls. Blood – who is also working with Slade, remember – is upset, as he somehow thought this whole incident was intended to help his campaign, but Slade points out that he promised Blood the city, not necessarily the election, and it turns out he’s in fact building an army to take the city. I hope this doesn’t mean we see fewer campaign shenanigans, because I honestly love the election plotline. Less island, more city politics!

Thea returns safely, thank goodness, having served her purpose, but not before Slade tells her her brother’s “secret” – which ends up being her own paternity. Why he frames that as her brother’s secret rather than her mother’s, I don’t know, other than to pull a bait-and-switch on the audience and make us think that someone else might be finally finding out the real secret. But then! He shows up at Laurel’s apartment and tells her that Oliver is the Arrow! I am so excited to see where this goes. Between this and Oliver’s “Now we fight back,” Arrow has me more engaged than I’d been for several episodes.

Other favorite lines and points of interest:

“Your mascara is running.” Of course he has a handkerchief.

“You letting the bad guys stay alive this year has filled the jails to capacity.” Heh.

“Well, I told a guy the truth and he got struck by lightning. To be fair, that probably won’t happen again, statistically.”

I loved Felicity trying to get Oliver to make time for the company, and, of course, she was right.

“I’ve gotten pretty good at pretending to be something I’m not. I learned it from you.” Queen family angst is my favorite.

I love that Oliver still calls Lance “Detective.” Speaking of Lance, I am worried about him.

“I’m not one to hold a grudge.” Hahahaha.

Roy: “Well, of course you’d take his side. You’re screwing him.” I love having Roy on Team Arrow.

“From the moment your children are born, you worry about what the world might do to them, but you never stop to think about what you might do to them.” . . . “Do you have any idea of who you sound like? You sound like her.” Again, Queen family angst is my favorite.

“Why are you here?” “Where else would we be?” Aww. And Diggle’s “Now what, boss?” reminded me very much of The West Wing‘s “What’s next?”